Do you want to live longer? do cardio

This text was written by a TecMundo columnist; Learn more at the end.

Do you want to live longer? Do cardio. This has been one of the strongest relationships established in the science of physical exercise. Longevity and cardiorespiratory fitness. People with good cardiorespiratory condition have a longer life expectancy and a lower risk of chronic disease.. Learn more about this relationship so you can benefit from it.

Cardio: what is it?

Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong and consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality among adults; is the title of the largest and most recent study on the subject, published in the British journal Sports Medicine and collecting all available evidence from 199 to 20.9 million observations. cohort studies.

Fitness or cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the components of physical fitness (the ability to perform physical activities). represents how well our body can use oxygen during physical activities such as running, cycling or swimming. Although the term refers to the heart and lungs, it is the job of all body systems to stay active during body movement.

Fitness is usually measured directly with an ergospirometric test (stress test) or indirectly with prediction equations. The result is a measure of maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) or metabolic equivalents (METs); the latter is a measure of energy expenditure.

In his book “Outlive”, Peter Attia states that the positive effect of exercise on longevity is the most undeniable effect that can be found in all of human biology. In fact, it takes action to live longer. Data from the most recent study show this; Having a higher level of cardiorespiratory fitness can significantly reduce the risk of all-cause death by almost half. Every 1 MET increase in fitness reduces the risk of death by 11 to 17% and the risk of heart failure by 18%.

How much physical activity is required?

The World Health Organization’s global recommendation for adults is 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, colloquially referred to as “cardio”. You can divide the time into several sessions on different days of the week.

If you find this is too much time, you can halve it, but increase the intensity: 75 minutes a week of high-intensity physical activity (something you can’t talk about while you’re doing it). It is also recommended to do muscle strengthening twice a week through weight training, Pilates, Yoga, functional training, CrossFit and others.

People who meet the global physical activity recommendation appear to live 3 to 4 years longer than people who are inactive.

The combination of aerobic and strength activities is the best way to reduce the risk of death, reducing the risk of death by 40%, as shown in one study. Separately, adults who did aerobic training or muscle-strengthening training also had a reduced risk of death from all causes (29% and 11% reduction, respectively).

For the doctor and writer, we need good aerobic fitness to live life; It’s basically about being great at going slow for a significant amount of movement, but also going all out and fast when necessary. The elements that have become the dominant forms of aerobic exercise today are organized in two separate ways:

– Moderate continuous aerobic: Perform the activity consistently at the same intensity or pace, for example on an exercise bike, for 30 or 40 minutes.

– December: Alternate more and less intense efforts, such as HIIT (high-intensity interval training) on ​​the treadmill.

When choosing you should consider your goals, previous experience, current fitness level, physical structure and preferences, because you may feel more or less pleasure (or displeasure) in any way in addition to the guidance of a guide. Physical Education specialist.

Peter Attia thinks this is necessary If you are going to acquire a new habit, let it be in the field of sports.. Thanks to the rapid and significant effects that this behavior can bring to us, in addition to infecting other habits. But the tip is not to wait until you have free time to start exercising, because when we get busy we will probably stop.

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Fábio Dominski He holds a PhD in Human Movement Sciences and a degree in Physical Education from Santa Catarina State University (UDESC). He is a university professor and researcher at the Laboratory of Sport and Exercise Psychology (LAPE/UDESC). he is doing scientific dissemination on social media there podcast available on Spotify. Author of Physical Exercise and Science – Facts and Myths.